Operation Rising Lion

The great sages of Israel wanted to insert an additional verse into the Shema prayer. The verse comes from our Torah portion in which the prophet Bilaam blesses Israel saying, “Behold, like a lion he crouches and lies down – and like a lioness, who dares rouse him?”

Only a few verses earlier, the Torah cites a verse using a similar metaphor comparing Israel to a lion from whence the military campaign, Operation Rising Lion, was named.

The question arises why our sages deemed this verse so significant so as to be added to the Shema, one of the holiest of all our prayers?

Our sages offer that in the Shema, it says, “You shall speak these words [Torah] when you lie down and when you rise up,” which has a direct wording connection to our verse that uses the terms “crouching” and “rising”.

The answer, of course, is much deeper, as is true of the entire Torah.

The Talmud explains that a lion can never be truly tamed. Even when it appears to be docile, when it is “crouching” and passive, even when one thinks one has domesticated him or tamed him, he is still considered a muad, essentially, an untamed animal that can attack in an instant. The lion therefore doesn’t – cannot – have a master.

While other wild animals can be tamed or trained to be obedient and docile, not so a lion. When a lion crouches and appears to be submissive, it’s only because he chooses to behave that way.

The Shema is the essence of the Jewish nation. It’s the ageless declaration of faith – simply yet profoundly stating that the Jew has no master on earth. His master is only G-d Almighty.

The Jew cannot be subjugated by any force in creation. Even in exile, in other words, when in a state of “crouching”, the Jew is a moment away from springing up and unleashing his latent, ferocious power.

Throughout history, despite efforts by so many nations to annihilate the Jew; to intimidate him; to seduce him with riches, honour, or glory to adopt their ways, the Jew has defied them all. We are a people unable to remain docile or restrained if our faith is challenged, when our existence is threatened. The Jew is a lion – born free to remain free to serve with love and obedience only G-d, our Father.

Thus the sages wanted to place this verse in the Shema, as it cuts to the very core of who the Jew is. The Shema defines the Jew, whose yoke is under only that of the one true G-d.

Operation Rising Lion demonstrated this once again. When the Jew asserts his power, there’s no force in nature nor in creation that can stop him.

May we embrace this teaching so that we may rise as lions to accept our unique calling, our G-dly mission, to arise and prevail over our enemies, without and within.

May the light of Am Yisrael forever shine bright with beauty, pride, and strength.